Marc Jacobs Design House Pays $1M to Settle Fashion Week Scandal
The design house affiliated with fashion star Marc Jacobs has paid $1 million to resolve allegations that it secured a prime location for its celebrity-studded New York City Fashion Week shows by bribing a state worker. "New York City is a global epicenter for fashion and cultural events," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in an announcement Wednesday, "and we will not allow corruption and greed to tarnish one of our most lucrative industries." More »
New FMLA Rules Will Create More Confusion and Litigation, Attorneys Warn
The Family Medical Leave Act, which has long been a source of litigation and confusion in the workplace, has undergone major changes for the first time in its 15-year history. But those changes may cause still more confusion and litigation, attorneys note. The new rules, which take effect on Jan. 16, were a response to complaints by employers who say workers are abusing FMLA and employees who claim they're unfairly being denied FMLA and are often retaliated against for taking it. More »
N.Y. Jury Convicts Opera-Loving Philanthropist
Opera-loving philanthropist Alberto Vilar was convicted on fraud charges Wednesday for swindling investors, including the mother of actress Phoebe Cates, out of millions of dollars. Federal prosecutors accused Vilar and a business partner of falsely telling investors their money would be safe. Instead, the men poured money into risky technology stocks that later crashed, prosecutors said. The verdict represented a spectacular fall for Vilar, who gave away millions to cultural institutions and opera houses. More »
Eric Holder Is Obama's Top Choice for AG
President-elect Barack Obama's top choice for attorney general is Eric Holder, a former No. 2 Justice Department official in the Clinton administration who would become the first African American to serve as the nation's chief lawyer. The Obama transition team has gone so far as to ask senators whether they would confirm Holder, an Obama official and people close to the matter said Tuesday. But the official said the decision has not been finalized, and transition spokesmen said no decision has been made. More »
Lessons on Change From Obama's Victory
Many lawyers react to predictions of change with skepticism, writes Paul Lippe, a founder and CEO of Legal OnRamp. But change does indeed happen, and we need look no further than Barack Obama's extraordinary run to the White House for some very relevant lessons on how. The same forces that Obama harnessed for his victory -- demographics, globalization, transparency and technology -- are driving a transformation in law, Lippe says. More »
Winston Gains 18 Thelen Attorneys
Winston & Strawn has gathered some prized partners from the rubble of Thelen. Antitrust litigator Robert Pringle and bankruptcy partner Richard Lapping headline a group of 18 lawyers joining the firm. Pringle has a book of business between $5 million and $10 million, and Lapping was the San Francisco managing partner for Thelen. Winston has a big-time Thelen connection -- San Francisco managing partner Charles Birenbaum was a Thelen partner but left in 2003 after losing a bid to be chairman by one vote. More »
2nd Circuit: Barring Queries About Swastika Tattoos Violated Constitution
A judge's refusal to allow a defense lawyer to cross examine a government witness about his swastika tattoos violated the confrontation clause, the 2nd Circuit ruled Tuesday. The ruling said Western District of New York Judge David Larimer had abused his discretion in barring the questioning. However, the circuit found that the judge's error in More »
Calif. State Bar to Review Permanent Disbarment Proposal
California State Bar officials two years ago recommended that certain offenses should be grounds for a new, permanent disbarment. But the California Supreme Court met with State Bar officials last month and told them to limit lifetime banishment to the worst of the worst. So on Thursday, the State Bar Board of Governors' Committee on Regulation, Admissions and Discipline Oversight will take a look at a scaled-down proposal that would permit permanent disbarment only for lawyers disbarred for a second time. More »
Cheney, Gonzales Indicted in Texas Prisoner Abuse Case
A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers. The indictment, which had not yet been signed by the presiding judge, was one of seven released Tuesday in a county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles in recent years. More »
Defamation Suit to Draw Lines on Congressional Immunity
A lawyer for Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., argued Tuesday before the D.C. Circuit that the congressman should not be granted absolute immunity for statements he made about Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and his role in the deaths of Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005. Murtha has compared the deaths to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. The defense has argued that Murtha has immunity for statements made in the scope of his employment. The D.C. Circuit must decide first whether it has jurisdiction in the case. More »
N.Y. Forum Denied for Suit Over Terror Attack in Egypt
Israeli and Russian victims of a 2004 terror attack on an Egyptian Hilton cannot sue the hotel in the United States, in part because a judge believed they were seeking a higher recovery from a New York jury sitting blocks from the World Trade Center site. Southern District of New York Judge Peter Leisure found that the plaintiffs, none of whom were Americans, may have been engaging in forum shopping in More »
Contempt Order Against Reporter Vacated in Anthrax Mailing Case
The D.C. Circuit has vacated a contempt order lodged against former More »
$52 Billion Merger Creates Beer Colossus
It took $52 billion, 23 banks, a $10 billion bridge loan and at least six law firms, but it's finally done: InBev, the Belgian brewer of Stella Artois and Beck's, has finalized its purchase of Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch to form a beer colossus that will be known as Anheuser-Busch InBev. Lawyers involved said they were surprised and heartened that they were able to close the deal -- said to be the largest hostile cash takeover in history -- amid an unprecedented credit crisis. More »
Plame Seeking Supreme Court Review of Suit Against Cheney, Libby
Lawyers for former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson plan to petition the Supreme Court to review a lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, among others, after the D.C. Circuit this week rejected a rehearing en banc. The executive director of a Washington, D.C., watchdog group that participated in representing Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, said in a statement: "This is an issue worth fighting over and we will not give up." More »
Carnival Settles Class Action Over Ill-Fated Millennium Cruise
A class of Carnival Cruise Lines passengers whose voyage to celebrate the millennium was interrupted by equipment failure has settled a lawsuit against the company with a unique result -- more than $5 million worth of free trips. Under the settlement, about 2,460 passengers will receive a free one-week cruise. Class attorney David Mishael and D. Michael Campbell, who filed the original suit, were awarded attorney fees of $1.75 million, bringing the total settlement value to almost $7.5 million. More »
Greenberg Traurig Trims Five Associates
Greenberg Traurig is the latest large firm to trim its associate ranks. The firm laid off three full-time associates from its real estate practice in New York on Friday. Two additional part-time associates were laid off on Monday, according to a person in the firm who declined to be named. The firm said in its statement that it has grown in recent years, added offices in the United States and Asia, is currently looking to hire laterals and practice groups and will continue to grow. More »
Processing of Patents Increased in Fiscal 2008
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reported that patent processing increased by 14 percent in fiscal year 2008 compared with the prior year, outstripping the 5.7 percent increase in patent filings during the same time span. The increase continues a pattern established several years ago, according to the report. Despite the high volume, the PTO says the agency met 100 percent of its government performance and results act goals for the first time. More »
Ex-N.J. State Sen. Bryant Guilty of Fraud, Bribery
Former New Jersey state Sen. Wayne Bryant, convicted Tuesday of bribery and pension fraud, is the latest in a string of 132 state officials found guilty of corruption charges recently. The government said Bryant took a job at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey as a bribe for directing more than $10 million to the school. U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie called Bryant's actions "simply the most disgusting behavior I've seen by a public official in my seven years as U.S. Attorney." More »
Firms Rethink the Value of Associate Bonuses
Normally around this time of year, associates at New York's big law firms begin gearing up for the annual ritual by which their employers award them year-end bonuses. But this is no normal year. Indeed, with law firms' major financial industry clients in a parlous state, the firms themselves laying off unprecedented numbers of lawyers and the overall economy in doom-and-gloom mode, the subject of bonuses, which are paid on top of base salaries that start at $160,000 for first-years, is an awkward one. More »